Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schultz has never shied away from controversy. He supports same-sex marriage, urges customers to keep guns out of stores and also asked Congress to pass a budget by a certain date. Most recently he tried to tackle the issue of race in America. That campaign seems to have backfired.

CCTV America’s Karina Huber filed this report from New York.

Starbucks CEO clarifies racial dialogue initiative

Starbucks CEO clarifies racial dialogue initiative

Starbucks' CEO Howard Schultz has never shied away from controversy. He supports same-sex marriage, urges customers to keep guns out of stores and also asked Congress to pass a budget by a certain date. Most recently he tried to tackle the issue of race in America. That campaign seems to have backfired. CCTV America's Karina Huber filed this report from New York.

Starbucks employees were encouraged to write “Race Together” on customers’ cups of coffee as a means of starting a dialogue.

Social media was inundated with mainly negative comments. Things got so heated that the company’s senior VP of communications temporary deleted his Twitter account.

The company was on the defensive and Schultz has now abandoned the idea that baristas should write “Race Together” on cups of coffee. Starbucks said the message-writing portion of the campaign was always scheduled to end this past Sunday.